On your own computer

Run CareerBot with Docker Desktop or OrbStack on your own computer, at localhost addresses.

A copy on your own computer is just for you: nothing to pay for hosting, and with self-hosted Convex your data never leaves the machine (apart from what the AI and the services you add keys for are sent). It runs while the computer and Docker are on.

What you need

Docker with Compose v2.20 or later: OrbStack or Docker Desktop on a Mac, Docker Desktop on Windows, Docker Engine on Linux. Tested with OrbStack on an Apple silicon Mac. CareerBot's images come for both Apple silicon and Intel or AMD machines (arm64 and amd64).
Git.
About 2.5 GB of disk for the images (the web app, the setup step, the Convex backend and dashboard), plus your data.

Install

Get the code

git clone https://github.com/careerbotdev/careerbot.git
cd careerbot
cp .env.example .env

Keep the defaults

.env.example is set up for this computer with self-hosted Convex. Leave it as it is:

SITE_URL=http://localhost:3000
COMPOSE_PROFILES=self-hosted
NEXT_PUBLIC_CONVEX_URL=http://localhost:3210
CONVEX_SITE_ORIGIN=http://localhost:3211
CONVEX_SELF_HOSTED_URL=http://convex-backend:3210

For Convex's cloud instead, see Run it with Docker.

3
Start it
```
docker compose up -d
```
4
Create your account
```
docker compose logs convex-setup
```
Copy the setup code, open http://localhost:3000, and use Create your account.

The addresses

Address	What
`http://localhost:3000`	CareerBot
`http://localhost:3210`	Convex's API (the browser talks to it)
`http://localhost:3211`	Convex's HTTP actions: Google and GitHub sign-in callbacks, Google Drive
`http://localhost:6791`	Convex's dashboard; sign in with the key from `docker compose exec convex-backend ./generate_admin_key.sh`

When a port is taken

Each port has a setting in .env. Uncomment the one you change, and change the address that uses it to match:

Setting	Default	Change with it
`WEB_PORT`	3000	`SITE_URL=http://localhost:<WEB_PORT>`
`CONVEX_PORT`	3210	`NEXT_PUBLIC_CONVEX_URL=http://localhost:<CONVEX_PORT>`
`CONVEX_SITE_PORT`	3211	`CONVEX_SITE_ORIGIN=http://localhost:<CONVEX_SITE_PORT>`
`CONVEX_DASHBOARD_PORT`	6791	Nothing

For example, CareerBot on port 3300:

.env

SITE_URL=http://localhost:3300
WEB_PORT=3300

Then docker compose up -d again.

Two copies on one computer

Compose names a copy after its folder (or -p <name>), and its containers and data volume after it too, so two clones in two folders keep their data apart. Give the second one different ports, as above, for all four settings (and the addresses that use them to match).

Stopping and starting

Terminal

docker compose stop      # stop; everything stays
docker compose up -d     # start again (the setup step runs again, quickly)
docker compose down      # remove the containers; the convex-data volume and your data stay

web and the Convex services restart on their own after the computer or Docker restarts (restart: unless-stopped).

Reaching it from your phone or elsewhere

localhost only works on this computer: compose publishes its ports on this computer's loopback address only (BIND_ADDRESS, default 127.0.0.1). To open your copy from elsewhere, put it on a domain with HTTPS: a tunnel (a Cloudflare Tunnel to WEB_PORT was tested, with two more hostnames to 3210 and 3211 for self-hosted Convex) or a server. Then SITE_URL, NEXT_PUBLIC_CONVEX_URL and CONVEX_SITE_ORIGIN become those https addresses.

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